Photo Courtesy USFS
Motorists were warned to be cautious and expect smoke on the highways when the Shadow Lake wildfire was burning across 6,700 hundreds of the Willamette and Deschutes National Forests in September of 2011.

The Willamette and Deschutes National Forests are looking for comments from the public on a proposal to use prescribed fire in portions of the Mt. Washington and Three Sisters Wildernesses. Officials say the prescribed burns would restore more natural vegetation patterns, reduce the need for fire suppression actions that negatively affect the wilderness, reduce risk to firefighters, and restore a more natural role for fire in the Wilderness.

SANTIAM PASS: If the early plans of investors had panned out skiers could be making runs down Three Fingered Jack. When funding for a new road didn’t materialize, Bend businessman Ed Thurston constructed the Hoodoo Ski Bowl near the summit of the Santiam Pass in 1938. Before that he’d pioneered winter outings by operating a rope tow at White Branch in McKenzie Bridge.